Percy Jackson & The Son Of Chaos
by ChubbyChabi
Summary: Percy meets Pike, an english demigod with a dangerous set of skills and shady motives. Meanwhile, somebody called "The Executioner" starts forming an army, seeking justice for all the crimes committed by the Olympians. To find out more…read the story ;)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, guys. This is ChubbyChabi. So I don't own Percy Jackson or any of the other characters (…apart from Pike. He's mine. Muahaha.). That being said I don't want to bore you with any further details. Let the reading begin! **

Percy

_Swooosh!_

Just in time Percy ducked under the massive hammer. Yes, massive. Just like the Laistrygonian swinging it.

Of course it was typical. Annabeth and himself hadn't been on a date in ages, so they'd decided to go out for lunch today. They were supposed to meet at the mall 10 minutes ago, but a Laistrygonian Giant had tracked down Percy and cornered him in an alley.

Happens all the time.

Dodging another blow, Percy countered. But his opponent just layed back, and Riptide cut through thin air.

Somebody in the background cleared his throat.

"Excuse me?"

Percy jumped up a wall and tried to land a blow on the Laistrygonian's head, but was distracted by a tattoo on his shoulder. Was that a puppy? A hellhound puppy?

He missed his chance and was rewarded with a punch to the gut. Oww.

"If you two could just stop fighting for a…"

He made himself look up. Just in time, as it turned out. He managed to parry the descending hammer, but Riptide was ripped out of his hand by the blow. That was it. Percy was cornered and Riptide wouldn't return to his jacket any time soon. He was done for. Puppy-Lover seemed to realise this and started laughing in triumph, however, he was quickly interrupted by the quiet voice from before.

"OI! PISSHEAD!"

Both Percy and Puppy-Lover turned their heads to see who was shouting. The not-so-quiet voice belonged to a young man. When Percy saw him, three things caught his eye:

First of all, the man was wearing a grey suit that looked like it cost more than anyone Percy knew made in a year.

Secondly, he was wearing gloves even though it was summer.

And finally, he was spinning a cane between his fingers.

This guy, Percy concluded, had to a time-traveller.

"How 'bout you stop pickin' on children and go lookin' for somebody your size?"

Puppy-Lover looked around and raised an eyebrow.

The time-traveller sighed.

"Yes, Einstein. I meant myself."

The Laistrygonian let out a short, bellowing laugh and started to charge his new victim. So did the stranger. When Puppy-Lover raised his hammer, the stranger slid between his legs, came up behind him and hit his knees. Apparently that blow with the cane was enough to get the big man kneeling.

Why did Percy bother with a sword?

The stranger grabbed his cane at the bottom end and brought the duck-head-shaped handle down on the Laistrygonian's head. Puppy-Lover was reduced to golden dust.

The stranger turned his head to Percy and grinned.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for the help."

"Name's Pìkra. But you can just call me Pike. And you are…?"

"Percy. You're not from the camp, are you?"

"Actually I'm on my way there right now. Hoping to meet some old friends there."

Damn! Preparing for his death, Percy had completely forgotten about his date with Annabeth.

"I need to pick up my girlfriend. But after that we can accompany you back to the camp if you want."

The thought that Annabeth might have been ambushed crossed Percy's mind, so when Pike agreed, he started running.

When they arrived at the mall, Percy was already all panicky. He didn't go through hell (literally) to lose her now. But there she stood, looking angry and also a bit worried. Once she spotted him, she came over and punched his chest, before hugging him.

"Seaweed brain! How dare you make me worry like that? I was already going through all the worst case scenarios!"

"Sorry. Had some trouble finding the way… and I ran into a Laistrygonian."

Annabeth broke contact and looked at him, scanning him for major injuries. After she made sure that was not the case she overwhelmed him with questions.

"Are you feeling okay? – How did he find you? – Did you kill him? – Or did you run? – Are we safe now? - Can we go eat something? I'm starving."

That's when Pike decided to step in.

"Yes, definitely. Is there a decent pizza place somewhere around here? I'm buyin'."

After successfully hiding her disappointment of not having Percy to herself, she was properly introduced to Pike.

Turns out he wasn't a time-traveller. The reason he could afford his indeed expensive look was his job. He was a "punter", a stock exchange speculator. The explanation why Percy had never even heard of Pike and why Pike had never even heard of Percy was just as simple. He was a lot older (22) and, more importantly, he was from England.

Percy found all those facts about Pike's life incredibly interesting (not), but there was one thing he was just too curious about.

"What's up with the cane?"

"Helps me walk," Pike said, winking at Annabeth, "no, for real. It's a lot handier than a sword in more than just one way. And not everyone's got such a fancy pen-sword like yours."

"Fair point," Percy said, taking a last bite of his Pepperoni pizza, "so, who are you from?"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Who's your… non-human parent?"

Pike froze for a moment. Then he stood up.

"Let's get going, people. Got no wish to find my way to camp at night."

Pike started walking ahead.

"That was pretty weird, right?"

"Yeah," Annabeth answered, "but maybe he's just ashamed of his parent. Like Nico."

"That'll be it. He can tell us when he's ready."


	2. Chapter 2

**Still don't own P.J…**

Pike

The camp had changed a lot since Pike had last been there. This included a dragon guarding Thalia's tree and a lot more huts than he remembered. As Pike hardly knew anybody – though he did remember a few from when they were smaller – his face brightened up, when he spotted Chiron.

"Chiron! Great to finally see a familiar face."

"Pike? What are you doing here? Gods, you've grown."

"Was hopin' to see some old friends, actually. Does Mark still come by?"

Chiron's face went grim.

"Mark died. Fell while defending the camp."

"Gods! What about Richie?"

"Dead."

"Harry?"

"Dead."

"What about Julia?"

"Dead."

"And Paula?"

"Ah, she swings by as often as she can. With her new job at Wall Street that's not too often though."  
Gosh, that was depressing!

"Seems the only old friends I'm visiting here is you."

Chiron looked at him. Into him. Pike hated it when he did that. Even though he'd only been staying at the camp for a few years and he'd been gone for ages (figuratively), he was an open book to Chiron.

"Pike, you didn't come here to visit any friends, did you?"

Was that suspicion in his voice? Pike shot a quick look to Percy, but he was in a heated debate with another camper about the ranking of food. Apparently Percy liked blue food? Americans are weird.

"No," he admitted, "I need to speak to Mr D."

"Aha, why exactly?"

"After I left camp and went back to England I kept an eye open for anything unusual. About a week ago I heard some disturbing rumours."

"You're winded up because of some rumours? That's very unlike you."

"These aren't the kind people just imagine. These might just be true. I won't go into detail here, but I'm tellin' you: the danger comes from within Olympus, or at least somebody very close to the 12. That's why I'm warning everybody one by one."

Pike could see Chiron was fully serious now. He believed him.

"That's a scary thought. Anything else I should know?"

"This is about revenge. That's all I can tell you right now. Watch you're back, Chiron. Protect the camp."

Pike saw Percy approaching.

"And don't trust nobody."

"What are you two talking about?" Percy asked.

"Just exchanging anecdotes from back in the day."

"Cool. Pike, do you want me to give you a tour through the camp? I imagine a lot has changed, since you last visited."

"Sure, mate. Thanks."

As Percy was going ahead Pike turned to Chiron one last time.

"Tell Mr D I'll come by after dinner."

After dinner, as soon as he could, Pike slipped away and made his way to the main house. He knocked on Dionysus' office.

"Come in."

"Good evening."

"And a very pleasant evening to you, Pierce Thatcher."

Pike sighed. Gods never change.

"It's Pike Fletcher, Mr D."

"Same difference."

Dionysus walked across the room and picked a bottle of wine from the shelf.

"Wine?"

"No, thank you. I came here to talk."

"And my many, many years of experience taught me the two don't exclude each other."

"Point taken."

"So, Pierce, Chiron tells me you came here to warn me? Of some possible danger? Are you here to amuse me with news about the Executioner?"

Pike sipped his glass and smiled.

"No."

"No?"

"No. I already told Chiron everything I know on that matter. I came here to ask you a question."

Dionysus raised his glass to his lips. As soon as the wine came into contact with him it turned into soda. Nevertheless he took a sip.

"And that would be?"

"How would you like seeing your mother's murderer dead?"

Dionysus spit out his soda. Not very godly.

"Are you a fool," he hissed, "to think you could overthrow Zeus?"

"Well I wasn't talking about the Big Man, now was I?"

Pike stepped closer to the god. The god had calmed down again and was staring straight ahead.

"We both know he might have technically killed your mother, but the fault lies with somebody entirely else. Somebody who has been making other people's lives hell on earth for long enough, don't you think?"

"Aha. If I may ask: How do you intend to kill this person?"

"Oh I've got my ways. But I am going to need your support."

Dionysus snapped out of his numbness.

"And why," he asked sharply, "would I give you that?"

"Because the gods made the humans. And, like it or not, we have some things in common. We both have an appetite for sex, violence, wine…"

Pike took another sip.

"…and vengeance. What I'm trying to say is that I know what you want. It's a fair deal, really. Justice for a favour."

Dionysus looked into his glass of soda, lost in thoughts. His eyes, normally so dreary, were focused and his mind was clearly working on full speed.

"I assume you have a plan that deals with Zeus?"

Pike nodded.

"Well? What do you need me to do?"


	3. Chapter 3

**There seems to have been some confusion around the POV-character. At the beginning of every new chapter there's a name (underlined). That's the name of the POV-character of that particular chapter. Hope you all are still enjoying the story **

Athena

"I proclaim this meeting open," Zeus declared, "As you may know I've called you all here to discuss the matter of the so-called 'Executioner'. First of all, what do we know about him?"

The most important gods, namely Hades, Hestia and the 12 Olympians, were present. Now everyone was looking at Apollo. Of course, he was the God of Knowledge after all. Visibly enjoying the attention he was receiving Apollo pulled out an iPad, put on some horn-rimmed glasses and started reading out:

"The Executioner is putting together an army of monsters and demi-gods, similar to Luke Castellan a few years ago, and has already led them into the field against us on multiple occasions. So far he managed to capture or kill Triton, Ganymedes and Amphiaraos. That's what we know for sure. Rumours say that his motives are 'to make us pay for our crimes' which would suggest that he is either a monster or a demi-god, seeking revenge. But, on the other hand, there's another rumour that says he is actually one of us, thus a god. By the way he's called 'Executioner' because he fights with an executioner's sword."

"What's an executioner's sword?" Demeter asked.

"Google it."

Zeus rolled his eyes.

"Are there," he mumbled, "any suggestions on what we should do?"

"Let him come!" Ares roared, "We'll send him right back to Hell!"

"Thank you for that much appreciated contribution, Ares. Anyone else?"

"Or," Athena spoke up, "we could send a few demi-gods to spy on or even infiltrate this army and possibly collect further information on the Executioner."

Now it was Dionysus' turn to be the centre of attention. Something he clearly didn't enjoy at the moment. He cleared his throat.

"Hmm… Yes…Well, are there any suggestions on who should participate in this quest?"

Poseidon rose.

"Triton – my son! – has been captured! I demand that Percy Jackson be assigned to this quest." He sunk back in his seat.

Dionysus furrowed his brows.

"Peter always drags along Annie Bell when he's off to a quest."

"And the problem is...?"

"The problem is," Athena answered in Dionysus' place, "Percy and Annabeth being known as loyal subjects to us. Them joining forces with the Executioner makes no sense. Except," she turns to Dionysus, "they'd have been persuaded or blackmailed by an outsider. Did anyone new arrive at camp, Dionysus?"

"Hmm, now that you mention a new camper arrived just a few days ago. Well, he's not completely new. He left the camp a few years ago…Will he do?"

"Where was he in the mean-time?" Zeus asked.

"England if I'm not mistaken…"

There was a quiet hiss from Hestia. She, being Goddess of the Culinary Arts, was not a big fan of the United Kingdom.

"… his name is: Pierce? Peter? Penny? No, wait that's a girl's name. Ah, right! His name is Pike."

"Whose is he?" Hades wanted to know.

"Eeeeeehhhh… no idea."

Heads turned to Apollo.

"Hey, don't look at me. I got nothing."

Heads turned away from Apollo. The gods looked at each other, trying to figure out who's bastard Pike might be. A lot of the looks were focussed on Zeus.

"It wasn't me!" he defended himself, "I haven't had a kid in decades! Apart from Thalia. And Jason."

"For heaven's sake!" Hera stood up.

Mumbling went through the throne room.

"He's yours?!" Zeus asked in disbelief.

"What? No! I know his father. In fact, we all do. It's Great-Gramps."

The room went silent.

"Chaos?"

"The one and only."

"When did Chaos have another kid?"

"22 years ago."

"How do you know this?" Zeus asked.

"Doesn't matter. What does matter is that he is a danger to us all. Who knows where his loyalties lie? What he could do? We should dispose of him as soon as possible."

"I disagree," Athena opposed, "in fact his loyalty to us being questionable will come in very handy. It'll make the group's motivation more believable, and – should they succeed in infiltrating this army – will give Pike a higher chance of rising amongst its ranks."

An agreeing murmur went through the room. Before Zeus ended the meeting, they had a vote: Everybody, apart from Hera and Ares, who was still insisting they fight to the bitter end, agreed. Being the Goddess of Wisdom had its perks. Like being highly appreciated as an advisor. Or getting 50% off in book stores.

Still, against better judgement, Athena had a bad feeling. Because if it turned out that someone in this meeting WAS the Executioner then that quest was doomed. Then Annabeth was doomed.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own Percy J. blablabla. Sorry for taking so long, guys. Sorry for this chapter than normally. Had a bit of writers block. But the fifth is on the way. By the way I'm always happy to get some constructive criticism (or compliments (; ).**

Percy

It had started as a friendly contest, but Percy had to admit, he really wanted to win. Pike and himself were in the arena and trying to find out which one was the better fighter. Though Pike had declined a shield, he made up for this lack of protection with speed and mobility. He didn't bother parrying Percy's blows, instead he simply dodged and followed up with counterattacks.

While Percy's style of combat was rational, calm, yet explosive, Pike's style was best summarized with one word: unpredictable. He jumped around, made use of his free hand to push Percy back, when he got too close, and used his cane now as a sword, then as a mace.

And apparently Pike didn't plan on losing either. As the minutes passed by the fight got more intense; the blows got stronger, the dodges closer, the heartbeats faster. Percy was sure it wouldn't be long until Pike made a mistake. Not long until he won.

"Guys? Chiron wants to see you."

The boys looked at Annabeth.

"Now?"

"Now." She confirmed, "In the Big House."

Reluctantly Percy put the cap on Riptide.

"A few more moments and I'd have won."

"In your dreams, mate. I had you just where I wanted you."

"Kicking your ass?"

"Please…you couldn't have kept your shield up for another minute. You got too tired."

Annabeth interrupted.

"After you guys are done comparing sizes, can we get going?"

"Yeah, sure. Did Chiron say what he wanted to see us for?"

"We in trouble?"

"No, you're in the clear. He mentioned a quest he had for you."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No, that was pretty much it."

"What are we waiting for then?"

Usually there'd be a circle of all the counselors around the Ping-Pong-table, with the addition of Rachel, Chiron and Grover. This time it was just Rachel, Chiron and Mr D. The god was once again wearing a shirt that might even look good – if on drugs – and was trying to drink wine without turning it into soda. Percy had to give it to him: Dionysus was persistent.

"Ahh, the brats made it after all."

"I'm sure they came as quick as they could," Chiron turned to them, "Did Annabeth already tell you what this was about?"

"A quest?"

"Exactly. This quest is given by the gods."

"Which one exactly?"

"From all of them. Even from this one." He pointed at Dionysus.

"Especially from this one. I was the one to call the meeting after all. Anyways, we need you to do some spying. Chiron will explain."

"A few weeks back somebody called the Executioner has surfaced. This individual formed an army within days and has already fought and won multiple battles against us. We don't know why it has been so successful so far. We don't know if it is a god, a demigod or a monster. We don't know what motivation lies behind its actions. We generally don't know a lot."

"Which is why you need us." Percy concluded.

"Now don't get all cocky, Johnson."

Chiron informed them about the plan the gods had made.

After a while Pike spoke up, "Where do we start?"

"Usually we get a prophecy."

Pike seemed interested. "The mummy is still here? Heard it crumbled to dust or something."

"It did. But now we have Rachel."

Percy turned to Rachel.

"Rachel?"  
Rachel held up a finger and took a deep breath, as if about to sneeze. Then she returned to her previous pose. "Nope. I've got nothing. Sorry."

"Nothing?" Percy asked alarmed, "not even a tickle?"

"Nope. Nothing."

"How on earth are we supposed to know where to start now?" Silence spread.

Mr D stood up. "One of the battles we fought took place east of Philadelphia. Colliers Mills Wildlife Something Something. Maybe you'll find something there." With that the god left.

"Not exactly much," Pike said, "in fact: Next to nothing."

"It'll have to do. Besides, we've got Wise Girl with us. If there's anything there to be found, she'll find it."

"Yeah, maybe all those hours of watching 'Sherlock' will finally pay out."

Pike's light brown eyes looked at them, full of doubt.


	5. Chapter 5

**Like I promised here's the fifth chapter. :)**

Annabeth

The next morning Kurt Cobain was yelling the lyrics of _Smells Like Teen Spirit _in the radio, while Argus drove down Highway 95. Percy, Pike and Annabeth were crowed in the van next to some hundreds of strawberries that Argus was to deliver after dropping them of in Jackson, a town close to their destination. While the boys were engaged in conversation about earlier adventures, Annabeth was fixed to her laptop, looking for earlier mentions of any kind of executioner in Greek mythology.

But her research yielded nothing. Whoever this Executioner was, he was new.

Annoyed she shut her laptop. Apparently she did that a bit too loud. The boys stop their conversation and a pair of seaweed green and sky blue eyes looked at her in curiosity.

"There's nothing on any Executioner in Greek mythology. He's new."

"Maybe he's just using a different name?"

"Nope. Nobody in Greek mythology swings an executioner's sword. Mainly because they weren't used until the 16th century."

"Huh."

"On other news…Argus?" Pike asked, "Are we there yet?"

Argus held up two fingers.

"What's that supposed to be? 2 hours?"

Argus nodded.

"What was that? A yes?"

Argus rolled his eyes annoyed. All of them. Gods, that looked weird!

"All right," Pike grinned, "I'll take that as a yes."

Two hours later Argus dropped them off and they continued their way on foot. After a while Pike started to hum _I Would Walk 500 Miles. _Then he stopped dead.

"Can we take a short break? Need to 'powder my nose'."

"What?"

"I need to take a leak."

"Oh," Annabeth said awkwardly, "oh, yeah, sure."

Pike disappeared between the bushes. She looked at Percy, who was trying to hold hide his massive grin.

"What's so funny?"

"Just you being embarrassed."

"Haha, seaweed brain."

Pike returned.

"Okay, ready to go." His black eyes were smiling. Clearly he found the situation funny too. Wait! His black eyes?

Within moments Annabeth had pushed fake Pike against a tree trunk and pressed a knife against his throat. You don't mess with the daughter of a war goddess.

"What are you doing?" Percy and Pike yelled in unison.

"Where's the real Pike? And who are you?"

"Wise girl, what's going on?"

"His eyes, Percy! They're black. Just before they were blue."

"Blue? Wait no, they were brown back at the meeting."

Annabeth turned her head to see Percy. "What?"

Pike used her distraction to slip away between her and the tree trunk.

"Guys, just let me explain-"

"What are you? A monster?"

"How did you make it through the barriers of Camp Half-Blood?" Percy asked. He'd drawn Riptide and positioned himself next to her.

"Well, if you two would bloody listen I could explain!"

"We're waiting."

"Can you lower the swords?"

Percy stepped forward and held Riptide to Pike's throat, before he could catch a breath.

"Okay, keep the swords up. Asking doesn't hurt!"

Percy hissed, "You better start talking."

"All right, all right. Gods! I guess it's time to introduce myself. Percy…Annabeth…I'm Pìkra Fletcher, son of Chaos."

"Chaos is a god?"

"Chaos, Percy, is the beginning. It was there, before the Olympians, before the Titans, before Gaia. It's a force far too old to care for the actions of mortals. I'm not your enemy. I'll tell you more, but please could we do that while not pointing sharp objects at me?"

Percy and Annabeth put down their sharp objects. All three sat down.

"Thank you. Now the thing about the eyes. There are certain perks when you're a son of Chaos – you know what I mean, Percy, son of Poseidon – but there're also some…downsides. One of them is that I constantly shape shift without-"

"Like Raven from X-Men?"

"No, more chaotic," he sighed, "I'll show you."

He stood up. It started with his eyes. All of a sudden they were all sorts of colours: blue, green, black, brown, gold, grey. They were constantly changing and mixing. His hair followed, changing just like his eyes. But what happened next though was no longer fascinating. It was grotesque. Under his skin (which was also changing from alabaster to dark brown to sunburnt) his bones started to move. Not in a general direction, not at all. It looked more like bugs were crawling around under his skin. Then, with no small amount of effort, Pike returned to his normal look. He noticed their horrified faces.

"Yep, it's basically nature versus nurture. Normally nurture wins, but sometimes I get distracted and my concentration breaks and voilà: I've got a new body! I usually transform back but, of course, I can't see my eye colour without a mirror."

"Awful."

"Yeah, imagine my identity crises!" Pike joked.

Pike went on to tell them about his past: He was found as a baby in the streets of London. After being passed around from orphanage to orphanage he was finally adopted by a young, infertile couple. Later on they decided to adopt a younger girl called Sophie. The two grew up as siblings. Surprisingly enough, monsters left him in peace throughout his childhood At least until he was 13. One day, monsters had organised a joint attack on his house, while his parents were gone. During that attack Sophie was killed. During that attack Pike also discovered he could teleport. He used that ability to get himself out of there. When his parents came home though, they saw the dead body of his baby sister and assumed the worst. He was sent to a Secure Children's Home that was hell on earth. After turning 15 he was sent to a military academy, but Pike decided to run away and turned up at Camp Half-Blood a year later.

After a short silence Percy, in an attempt to change the topic, asked:

"You said something about perks?"

"Like I said, I can teleport. With restrictions. Both my place of departure and arrival have to be chaotic."

"Anything else?"

Pike hesitated. "No. Well, time passes by slower when I myself am surrounded by chaos. Pretty useful during combat."

"Sooo, you can't cause earthquakes?" Percy asked charily.

"What? No, I thought that was you."

"Guys? What are you talking about?"

They turned to her.

"Can't you feel it? Listen."

Now Annabeth knew what they meant. The earth was shaking. Then in the distance she saw a rider moving towards them. No. Not a rider. A centaur. Then she spotted another one. And another one. It was an entire herd.

"What are the Party Ponies doing here?" Percy asked.

"I don't think these are the Party Ponies, seaweed brain. Boys, run!"

They ran.

"If we can make it deeper into the forest, they won't be able to run us down!"

Of course in her heart, Annabeth knew they couldn't outrun centaurs. Still, they had to try. Maybe they'd find a place where they had an advantage in the case of a fight. She could see Pike was thinking the same thing. He stopped running.

"Try that. I'll buy you some time," he yelled "Was an honour meeting you."

Smiling that he grabbed his cane at the bottom, charged the first centaur that was in range and bust its knee while it was in full speed. You can imagine the result.

Percy and Annabeth kept on running. They heard screams, but decided to assume they belonged to the centaurs. They didn't stop running. After a while the screams stopped. It wouldn't be long until they'd catch up. Indeed they could hear the centaurs' battle cry seconds later. Annabeth didn't dare turn around.

That's why she didn't notice Percy was no longer around. They'd run in different directions.

She stopped running, when she reached a small clearance. Crying she caught her breath. Breathe, Annabeth! She straightened up, when a centaur broke out between the trees. He threw something. Annabeth couldn't quite make it out until it was right in front of her face. It was a boomerang. It knocked her out.

When she woke up, she was tied across the back of a centaur. Opposite of her, tied to another back, was – thank the gods! – Percy.

"Percy?"

"Yeah?"

"Where are we heading?"

"I don't know."

Made sense. He was in the same situation as her after all. Then a dreadful thought hit her.

"Percy?"

"Mhmm?"

"Where's Pike?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Merry Christmas! And sorry I didn't get around to writing a lot. But here's a short chapter. And I'd really appreciate feedback :)**

Pike

Pike was walking out of Hercules' hut. Yes, that's right. Hercules' hut. As in: the Pillars of Hercules. As in: Europe.

Hercules himself was standing on the beach, enjoying the view, when Pike approached him.

"Dude. Clean up your hut! Untidy'd be a bloody understatement."

Heracles smiled, "Did you shadowtravel here?"

"Sort of. Want to recruit you."

"Sure, I don't like small talk either" Heracles said amused, "All right, straight to the point then: What would you be recruiting me for?"

Clearly Heracles wasn't taking him seriously. Which made Pike's next words so much sweeter.

"To kill Hera."

Heracles' facial expression went through all its options. First he was surprised, then for a brief moment happy and excited. That was followed by disbelief and finally his expression ended in suspicion.

"Is this a test? Did Hera send you here to test my loyalty?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"You're going to have to take my word for it."

"Assuming I would help you commit this treason? What's your plan? And what would be my part in it?"

"I have the power to kill anything. Including gods. And when I say kill, I mean annihilate. Whomever that power is used on, nothing will be left. No body. No soul. Nothing. However, I don't plan on killing Hera and paying with an eternity in Tartarus. That would be rather stupid, wouldn't it? No, I want to convince Zeus to let me kill her. And for that I'm going to need something you happen to possess."

"What?"

"Some of your more recent souvenirs."

Hercules remained silent.

"Come on now, Hercules. I saw them when I was in your hut. I'd rather have you give them to me than steal them."

"Take them if you must. But I was hoping to have a more active role in her demise."

"Well, in the unlikely event that my plan does not work, I'm going to need a distraction. I was hoping you could be the one providing it."

Hercules thought about that. Then he held out his hand.

"You can count on me." Hercules assured him.

"I know I can. Now about those goods…" Pike smiled. He shook Hercules' hand. Of course he knew he could count on Hercules! That guy would end the world if that meant taking Hera down with him. He was the perfect and, now that he knew what Pike was planning, most loyal henchman.

As the two men walked up the hill to Hercules' hut and Pike started explaining his plan, he mentally ticked off his checklist ("Get to Europe" – check, "Attain evidence" – check, "Get divine henchmen" – check). His thoughts drifted to Annabeth and Percy. How where they doing? He had to admit: He DID feel a bit bad for leaving them. But on the other hand: He couldn't have helped them anyways. If he had stayed, he'd have been captured too.

Hercules handed him a sack with his 'most recent souvenirs' in it.

"Before you go: Why do you want to kill her?"

"Hera killed my baby sister. I'm going to make her regret that."


End file.
